Shrimp Trawl Nets

Our technician, Doug Dickson, has been involved in the fishing industry for 28 years. He started building shrimp trawls on a full time basis in 1996, combining the highest quality materials with design and development resulting in the most productive shrimp trawls on the BC coast.

Doug uses twisted knotless design to produce his trawls. Research and development of his trawls was conducted at Memorial University in Newfoundland, in their flume tank (photos above). Doug also did research projects on stock assessment and gear trials for the Newfoundland government.

The tests concluded that twisted knotless polyethylene combined with Smart Net Systems designs are the most cost efficient, strongest, and lowest drag nets for the dollar. They provide the longest life and the fewest problems for use in trawls. Smart Net Systems' trawls, built from twisted knotless polyethylene, are still in use after more than 10 years. Smart Net Systems has supplied trawls to British Columbia, Newfoundland, Maine, and Alaska.

Knotless Netting

Twisted Knotless Netting

Used by Smart Net Systems, twisted knotless netting is composed of two sets of twisted filaments that are going in the same direction as the joinings, including them in the structure. This results in no loss of strength. The use of our knotless nettings has expanded to various ground use purposes such as golf driving ranges, batting practice cages, and backstops.

Advantages of knotless twisted polyethylene:

Finished nets much stronger than knotted

Nets less likely to stretch as there are no knots to pull tight

No knots to wear out on bottom contact

15% less drag than knotted - up to 12% fuel savings

Option of towing a larger net with same H.P.

Easier to spread

Knitted Raschel (Braided) Netting

Knitted Raschel netting is constructed with the filaments in a series of knots that are woven together. The diagram below demonstrates the way the filaments change direction at the joinings. This results in a strength loss in the average range of 30% of the tensile rating of the filaments.

Contact us for further information and to order your custom shrimp trawl.